Friday, May 24, 2013

Red Gingham Picnic Cloths

It was a number of weeks ago now that my friends and I struck out into the Toowong Botanical Gardens to have a late-morning picnic.

picnic

We had traditional red and white gingham picnic blankets, delicious fruit platters, dandelion tea, macarons and the obligatory sandwiches (egg and lettuce - my favourite!)


The weather was kind to us, only a little warm.  The mosquitoes were not so kind to us.


Sassy D wore a very trendy and picnic-wise outfit.  She matched a pair of high waisted repro jeans (with a cute martini applique stitched on the back pocket) with a brown and white gingham bolero from Atomic Martini Vintage, white canvas tennis shoes and a cute headscarf.

I am sure she will kill me for using this picture of her adoring her first morning coffee....


Her sister, Classy K wore a 1940s style dress she had made herself from a Vogue Vintage pattern (V2787) with a sensible vintage wide-brimmed vintage hat and nice shoes.

1940s, 40s, vintage sewing,

PoisonedKitty wore a 1940s dress she had made herself out of the perfect picnic dress fabric!  It had green apples and little bees all over it.  Love- love!  She matched this with a vintage hat in a lush shade of green, matching the apples on the dress fabric.  Her leather sandles made this a relaxed outfit and tied into the colour of the leaves on the fabric. Her lovely Mama D was also at the picnic in a dress PoisonedKitty had made.

My outfit was comfortable but I could have been a little more sun-smart with my hat!


Dress:  Late 1950s deadstock pink & purple gingham sheath dress (Bess Georgette Etsy Store)
Hat: 50s furry bonnet-style cap (The Vintage Advantage)
Shoes:  Wittner pink ballet flats
Cardigan: SES cardigan in pink.
Accessories: Pearl earrings and 50s expandable bracelet in pink

Chocolate Walnut Cake



Chocolate Walnut Cake   (no donating lady)
page 57
  • 2 tab butter
  • 1 teacup sugar
  • 1 cup S.R Flour
  • 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
  • 1 tsp cocoa powder
  • 3 eggs
  • 150 ml milk
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.  Prepare a pan by greasing it, adding paper to the base and flouring the sides.
Beat Butter and sugar until light and creamy.  
Add the eggs, one at a time.  Beat until the mixture lightens further.  
Sift in flour, walnuts and cocoa.   Beat for five minutes (less if using electric hand beaters!)  
Bake in for 20 minutes. 


The Cake came together very easily but there were a few hiccups with the baking process.  At the prescribed 15 minutes, the cake was definitely in need of some extra oven time.  I left it in another 10 - 15 minutes and had some very minor burning on the underside at one end of the cake.


I also had some icing issues.  What was intended to be a thick ganache icing ended up being a runny ganache icing with crushed chocolate in it.  It doesn't look pretty but it all tastes as good in the mouth!

I shared the first few bites of this cake with my Dad who immediately laid out his verdict.

"It's a bit dry."


I had to agree.  It was that little bit too dry.

A few gents from the local ham radio club were at my Grandfather's house, dismantling the 4 or so antenna he had installed for his radio hobby.  Each of them willingly took a slice and were much more in favour of the cake than Dad had been.  I carefully warned them first that it might be a little 'dry' but they denied this was the case.   I suspect they were being nice.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

A few outfits from April

Despite promises to get more shots of my outfits it hasn't been happening.  Because of a change of jobs (a secondment to a different role in my team) my month has been full of corporate wear and only a few vintage outfits. Also, the onset of early evenings as we head into Autumn combined with a number of later work evenings means by the time I get home it's too dark to take photos (and I'm a little exhausted!) 

But here are a few outfits that I've been donning throughout April.



Dress:  60s Navy, Red and Olive Paisley dress (Remember When) 
Hat: red 60s cap-style hat from a bulk hat ebay buy  Shoes: Wittner raspberry red platform sandles. Accessories: pearl earrings and a heather and thistle enamel brooch (Kijaro - Love Vintage Show)

I've been wanting to buy a thistle and heather brooch for a long while now and was so pleased to finally snag one! 


Dress:  60s green cotton dress (Cassie's Corner)
  Cardigan: Printed Darlene sweater with pearl buttons (Denisebrain Etsy Store)
 Shoes: Naturaliser olive t-bar heels
Accessories: pearl earrings, coral headscarf



Dress:  50s hot pink and burgundy paisley Summer frock (Bess Georgette Etsy Store)
  Jacket: burgundy velvet blazer
 Shoes: Wittner pink ballet flats
Accessories: pearl earrings, pink headscarf, pink cat brooch (on the jacket lapel)

It's interesting how red the paisley dress looks in that photo when it really is a lot more of a maroon/burgundy shade in real life. 

I hope you are all enjoying the change of weather - hot Summer days moving to temperate cool (or cold, frosty Winter warming to lovely Spring for any Northern Hemisphere readers!)